Whatever it was I said or did,
wherever it was I said I’d been
or who I’d met along the way,
he always smiled and nodded;
smiled and said, “Uh-huh. uh-huh,”
and said he’d been there too;
had met and befriended
all the same fine people,
eaten all the same fine meals,
and enjoyed a dark espresso
at all the same fine bistros.
But when he told me all about
his heartbreaks and his failures,
his loneliness and his darkest fears,
and all of his many truly pointless
obsessions, all I could do was
look into his eyes to see if
anyone I knew looked back.
—————[|||]—————
dVerse Poets
Open Link Night – Live
OLN #282
———[||]———
Scrambled, Not Fried 
wow.
That to and fro of exchanging confidences, the frustration and the unease comes over so well. Looking through a window and realising it’s a mirror.
Wow indeed! This is breathtaking and poignant.
This is incredibly potent, Ron! 💝
Excellent Ron – breathtaking indeed.
Anna :o]
It may be best to keep that one on the other side of the glass.
The last lines draw this zinger to a great close!
Ron,
What a great ending you penned here.
” all I could do was
look into his eyes to see if
anyone I knew looked back.”
What a treat to ‘meet’ you today … great write!
This hit me when you read it today Ron, and reading it here myself is double powerful. Well written!
When a dialogue isn’t really a dialogue but a talker and an audience there is no other end point… Excellent poem, Ron. Very good hearing you read it live tonight!
His character is so relatable! Loved it.
ouch, the discomfort .. too close to home
‘One day you’re going to have to face/the deep dark truthful mirror…’ your poem made me think of this song by Elvis Costello. It’s almost impossible to look ourselves in the face. But we should definitely try, as you have done with this thought-provoking poem.
So relatable 🙂
-David
This is so good Ron! I love the point of separation in this one.
Apologies for reading late, but after the live OLN, I was so tired, and we had the electrician in all yesterday to sort out the heating – there is still none in the study or dining room! I enjoyed the reading and now I’ve read it for myself I appreciate the subtleties of your poem, Ron. The final stanza was a sucker punch.
I enjoyed your reading, but reading it now, I pick up on so much more. Powerful!